Three big-picture things jump out at me from this game, starting with this one: Even as Westbrook was struggling in the 4th quarter, social media chirped with excuses. The Thunder reserves were outscored by 15 points during the time that their superstar was on the bench.
Game 3 is Friday night in Oklahoma City.
Despite having three straight wins and a 6-2 SU record over their last eight games, the Rockets are just 1-9-1 ATS over their last 11 games overall per the OddsShark NBA Database. Oklahoma City went more than three minutes without scoring to allow Houston to take the lead in the fourth.
Oklahoma City extended to a 28-13 lead on two Jerami Grant free throws at the 3:13 mark and scored 35 points in the first quarter without the benefit of a 3-pointer.
But when Westbrook came back in, he didn't give them an opportunity to help him. The UNDER is 3-0 in Houston's last three games in Oklahoma City.
On the latest episode of "Posting Up", Fred Katz talks about everything that comes with the Russell Westbrook Experience.
Arrests following killing of French police officer
In 2003, the man was convicted of attempted homicide in the shootings of two police officers, the Associated Press reported . Obama's spokesman said the former USA president, who is popular in France, was not making a formal endorsement.
By no means am I blaming Russell Westbrook for this loss, nor am I saying his teammates' numbers are good enough when you're down a game in the playoffs.
Westbrook Explodes but Rockets Conclude Quarter with a Fierce ComebackOklahoma City Thunder guard Russell Westbrook during the game. He recieved assistance from forward Taj Gibson, who scored 20 points on 10/13 shooting.
While playing all 12 minutes of the fourth, Westbrook went 4-for-18 from the field in the final frame with six of those misses coming from behind the arc. Like every player. Everybody wants to come out and play great, it doesn't always work out that way.
With the win on their home court, the Thunder avoided falling into an 0-3 hole in their best-of-seven Western Conference first-round series, narrowing the deficit to 2-1. Maybe it was the home crowd or the must-win mentality but this was a different basketball team.
Paul Millsap led the Hawks with 27 points and 10 rebounds, and Dennis Schroder scored 23 points.
Westbrook led the National Basketball Association in scoring this season with 31.6 points a game and also averaged 10.7 rebounds and 10.4 assists per contest, joining Oscar Robertson as the only players in National Basketball Association history to average a triple double for an entire season. Andre Roberson scored 12 points and McDermott concluded with 11. It was a heart-wrenching loss for the Thunder as they led most of the way. Roberson slows Harden down, and when the Rockets can't set effective screens for him, it forces turnovers and rushed shots. "Tonight, those guys made plays throughout the whole game". Harden laid one in to get the Rockets within a possession, but it looked like the momentum might've been stopped when Victor Oladipo hit a 3-pointer, it wasn't. Butler connected on just seven of his 21 shots from the floor and didn't get to the free throw line. He also had six assists and grabbed six boards. He looked like he was on track to turn in one of his best performances of 2016-17 - the type of game he surely would have reserved for the regular season if he was anxious about votes.
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